Ten actors from Austria and Greece will arrive in Malta at the end of the week to work with actors from the Malta Drama Centre in a three-partner project “dealing with the issue of illegal immigration,” explained Mario Azzopardi, head of the Malta Drama Centre.

“It is an EU funded programme which will explore the issue from various perspectives and translate it in terms of dramatic action and it will also be filmed for wider diffusion in Austria and Greece,” he said.

For the past few weeks, members of the Community Theatre Section at the Malta Drama Centre have been collecting data and qualitative information on the phenomenon of clandestine migration, especially movements in the Mediterranean region. They have also collected personal narratives of immigrants from Africa which will now be transformed into scripts for dramatic action.

The project forms part of a series of events marking the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.

Coordinating one week of workshops with the actors from the three countries will be Regina Schreiber, a highly experienced theatre pedagogue, animator, actress and freelance drama trainer. Born in Vienna in 1961, Ms Schreiber grew up in one of the large southern working class districts of the Austrian capital, a fact which has sensitised her to explore themes related to vulnerable, marginalised people.

The workshops in Malta will lead to a studio production involving actors from the three partner countries. The show will directly involve the public and will be staged at the Malta Drama Centre in Blata l-Bajda on Saturday, 3 May at 7.30pm. Entrance is free but patrons should place bookings (tel: 21 220 665 / e-mail : malta.drama.centre@gov.mt.)